Small children are typically seated in infant chairs when eating or drinking, or even at times when a parent or other caregiver wishes to have the child seated for reasons of safety. The infant chair thus provides a measure of independence for an infant and allows them to manipulate objects as they learn how to feed and drink on their own, or as they practice in manipulating objects like toys, all in a somewhat controlled environment.
Chairs like high chairs have been traditionally designed with trays upon which food, beverages, toys or other objects may be placed within reach of the child. A nearly universal limitation of prior art infant chair designs is that children can drop objects from the tray area. This can either be due to lack of facility with handling objects, accidental, or in some cases deliberately as the child explores their environment and the consequences of moving objects off of the tray. The result is that food, liquids, and other materials invariably end up on the floor resulting in the need to clean the area under the child's chair. Similarly, if there are concerns about the cleanliness of the floor, toys and other objects are often cleaned before giving them back to the child.
There are a number of prior art attempts to address the problem of materials and objects falling from high chairs. One simple solution, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,895 (Deaver), or U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0037387 (Sweeney et al.), has been to provide an absorbent pad or mat to protect the area beneath a high chair.
Another approach has been to modify the chair, for example, by extending the area of the tray portion. U.S. Pat. No. 2,540,685 (Mayer) discloses an attachment that is secured to the tray of a high chair, extending the front and sides of the tray to limit the ease with which objects may fall from the tray. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,123 (Hutson) discloses a disposable high chair apron adapted to cover and enlarge a high chair eating tray.
In other cases, the prior art solutions comprise various trough-like devices that are intended to catch objects or material falling from the tray. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,574 (Brown) discloses a “trough” device comprising stiffened panels that attaches to a chair and surrounds it on three sides. The device is limited however, in that it uses the back of the chair and the footrest, in cooperation, to support the trough member. Furthermore, it makes use of multiple stiffening members to provide rigidity, making it complicated to manufacture, and awkward to fold and store. Furthermore, since the device makes use of the chair back and footrest for stability, it is not necessarily adaptable to chairs of different sizes and configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,143 does away with a the high chair all together, disclosing a food catcher comprising a seat and frame that attaches directly to a table and provides a catcher that hangs under the child and seat.
Another approach is to provide one or more catching members that partially surround the chair at or below the level of the seat. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,432 (Davis) discloses an attachable rectangular tray that can be attached to the legs on a side of a high chair. U.S. Patent Publications 2008/0185880 and 2008/0185881 (Romaniuk) discloses an infant food and debris catcher that functions to catch small items or food spilled in the area of the child's seat or legs. US Patent Publication 2009/0127917 (Foenander) discloses a high chair net assembly that wraps around the back and sides of a high chair and which is attached to the chair by hangars.
These prior art solutions to the problem all suffer from one or more problems, including lack of portability, difficulty in assembly, and lack of coverage around the entire infant high chair.